A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 (21 page)

“I said almost. I will get out of this bed if you do.”

“I cannot stay here constantly.”

“Perhaps not constantly, but close enough. You will sleep beside me. Eat with me. Perhaps read to me. Keep me generally entertained so I do not scream from boredom. Would you do that for me?”

He sounded so hopeful she could not deny him.

“It is not as though I have anywhere else to be,” she reminded him softly.

She didn’t know if his grimace was from pain or contrition.

“I will need someone to keep me apprised of all things. You are…free to move about as you need to.”

“Without a guard?” she asked.

He lowered his gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

“Very well,” she said. “But if I am free to come and go, I want that to be made general knowledge. I don’t want to be waylaid or confronted over everything I do.”

“It will be done. When you are not here you are to have the run of the temple. But I do not want you leaving these walls without me. I know…you have proven yourself able to handle yourself in a dangerous situation,” he allowed, “but it would make me feel better.”

“Don’t worry. I have no desire to leave. Although…I may want to walk with Mariah around the grounds. You have the beginnings of a lovely garden with all its walkways. The plantings are not finished and the trees and shrubbery are young yet, but it will be a garden to be proud of once it has grown up.”

“I see no harm in that. You must have a little fresh air. Very well, with Mariah or my mother…but always with a guard.”

She didn’t know why it should hurt her that he didn’t trust her, but in a way it did. Of course, given the opportunity she would escape the temple and head back home…wouldn’t she?

She bit her lip as the thought wrestled in her mind. Of course she would go. She didn’t belong here. But…could she make herself leave him? They were lovers now and although she told herself it was only a physical connection…she feared that wasn’t entirely true. She was quickly growing attached to him…to this place. To this country with its wounded and robust people. She was growing fond of Fatima. She was such a strong woman. She had ruled a people and raised a fine son until he was old enough to rule on his own. She had set an example for him in more ways than one. She had shown him how to be a benevolent and thoughtful ruler, and she had shown him what it meant to be part of a loving couple. So much so that he wanted it for himself.

Not that she thought she belonged as part of that kind of relationship. She had made it clear to him that she was nothing of the kind. Hadn’t she?

She couldn’t have it both ways, she scolded herself. She couldn’t demand he trust her and yet know she would betray him given half a chance.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Are you hungry? Can I get you something to eat?” Fatima asked him.

There’s too much pain for anything to be palatable,” Sin said grimly. “I’m afraid I would be sick.”

“It’s all right,” Aria assured his mother at her wrinkled brow of concern, “We had a very large breakfast. That was only a few hours ago.”

“Very well,” Fatima relented. “But you will see that he eats regularly?”

“I will insist upon it.”

Fatima looked at her, caught her gaze with a grateful expression. Ariana smiled at the other woman. She would have taken care of her son regardless of her request. But she knew there was no way for Fatima to know that. As far as Fatima was concerned, Ariana wanted out of Kilt as swiftly as possible. Even if it meant leaving her son with no one to care for him. Once again she found herself torn. If the opportunity presented itself, would she leave him here, in his sickbed, with no one but his mother to be trusted to care for him? To protect him from his brother’s greed?

Ariana was discomfited by the fact that she didn’t give a resounding yes to herself. It shouldn’t matter to her what she would be leaving behind her. All that should matter to her was what was in front of herself. What her responsibilities were in Saren.

It didn’t matter, she told herself with a sigh. No such opportunity promised to present itself any time soon. Even if it did the weather was completely atrocious. There was no escaping until spring and warmer weather presented itself.

Sin groaned and all thoughts of escape fled from her mind. She reached out and gripped his hand, squeezing it in comfort. He turned his head and beckoned her for a kiss.

She gave it gladly.

Chapter Twenty-One

The next two weeks dragged by with interminable slowness for Sin. He hated being stuck in bed. It felt lazy and self-indulgent, two things he was not known for being comfortable doing. The only things that made it bearable was Ariana’s presence, and the ledgers she brought him to help occupy his mind and help him feel as though he were doing something to run his country.

He felt bad for keeping her in by his side the whole time. She did leave from time to time, but for the most part she stayed with him, keeping him company. She either climbed into bed with him or sat in a chair by the bed. They took every meal together.

The pain of the injury subsided over time, but he was black and blue and sore for the better part of those two weeks. He was just beginning to get out of bed—despite protests from both Ariana and his mother—and sitting up in a chair for an hour here or there.

For Arianna’s part, she was surprised to realize she was enjoying her time with Sin. She got to know him better with every passing day. The intimacy that grew between them would have been disconcerting to the Ariana who had first come to live in the Kiltian court. But this had grown on her so naturally that she felt no upset or discomfiture. She enjoyed her discoveries about him as he relaxed his guard and truly opened up to her. He did not bring up their relationship, avoiding the topic studiously, knowing it would only make them quarrel or retreat to lick their wounds in opposite corners. They simply treated one another like lovers and spoke nothing about their feelings.

She found out he had a sense of humor. He found out that she was doggedly loyal to a friend. She found out that he could be trusted with deep secrets, he found out that she was able to tell a good joke. They were both well-read, further dispelling her image of him being an uncouth and uneducated barbarian. In fact, she hadn’t thought that about him in a very long time it seemed.

Ariana was sitting beside him in bed one morning, going over some governing papers with him when she suddenly became aware of the fact that he was staring at her. He did this often, so she ought to have been used to it, but she blushed under his regard all the same and poked his arm.

“You’re doing it again,” she said accusingly.

He knew exactly what he was doing and he smiled at her.

“I cannot help it. Become less beautiful and less fascinating and I promise you I will stop staring at you. Since you become more of each with every passing day, I fear it would be a lost cause for you to try. Your only recourse it would seem would be to learn to live with my gawking at you at odd periods of the day.”

“I could put blinders on you. Perhaps a mask where no light can penetrate? You could stare into blackness then.”

“Ah, but that would only force me to use my other senses to see you. For instance, my hands…”

Sin reached out and stroked warm fingers down the slope of her breast, his nails scraping across the silk covering her nipple briefly before falling away. Ariana flushed immediately hot all over her exposed skin and she was forced to clear the catch from her throat before speaking.

“Don’t tempt me,” she said with a smile.

“Tempting you is exactly what I wish to do. Ariana…I have been without your touch for much too long.”

“What are you talking about? I touch you all of the time,” she said, being purposely obtuse. She had been putting off his attentions for his own well-being for over a week. Ever since he had begun feeling well enough to get out of bed.

“Let me make love to you,” he said softly, his head dipping to touch his forehead to hers. He then kissed her mouth slowly and sweetly.

“You aren’t well enough to make love to anyone,” she said with a noisy swallow.

Sin knew it was true. He was not well enough to take command of their lovemaking, to be on top of her working himself into her. But he was well enough, he believed, for other things.

“Pull up your skirts and straddle my head. I will show you how well I am.”

Ariana felt a fiery blush scorch over her cheeks at the lewd suggestion. It also made her go instantly wet with excitement. She glanced at the open door to his bedroom.

“Your mother could come in at any moment,” she said breathily.

“Close and lock the door and she will not come in.”

“I won’t encourage you to do things you shouldn’t be do—“

She was cut off when he swooped in and gave her a blisteringly hot kiss. She moaned at the intensity of it, his hands sweeping over her body everywhere he could reach as his mouth and tongue worked dream-like perfection with hers. Ariana curved against him unthinkingly and she felt him wince. She pulled back sharply.

“No!” she said.

“Yes. Ariana I must have you. I’m going mad having you this close to me and not being able to be inside of you. I haven’t had nearly enough time to get to know you in that way. To be your lover. I've enjoyed getting to know you in other ways, but in this way…I crave you to the point of insanity. You have no idea how frustrating this is for me!”

She could hear it in his voice, see it in his expression, just how disturbed he was. His hands were still skimming heatedly over her body…curving over a hip, a thigh, a breast…clearly desperate to have a part of her.
Any
part of her.

Ariana drew away from him, ignoring his huff of frustration as she got to her feet and walked out of his reach. Then she walked to the door, closed it and threw the bolt that locked it. When she turned to face the man in the bed, he had a wolfish grin on his face. He held out a hand to her and beckoned her forward.

“We do this my way,” she said when he reached to grab her hip and draw her close. She kneeled on the bed, throwing a leg over his thighs, hiking her skirt up so her legs were bared above the knee. She then removed the pillow from behind his head and saw to it he was lying flat on his back.

She then began to caress him. He was naked beneath his covers, him not having progressed to struggling with a pair of skintight breeches. He usually wore a robe when out of bed and nothing while in. Ariana pulled the covers back and away from between their bodies so she was watching him fill out and grow aroused before her eyes and so he could feel the bareness of her sex and backside across his thighs.

She reached for the sash binding her waist and pulled it free. She let the long, silky length of fabric slide off over the side of the bed and she grabbed for the hem of her blouse. She stripped it off, leaving herself bare-breasted. His eyes raked over her hungrily. He reached for her, touching her thighs because they were the only thing within his reach that didn’t require him sitting up a little.

She knew his desires as soon as he did and she slid up over him until she was straddling his hips and they were bare sex to bare sex. She picked up his hands and brought them to her breasts, leaning forward to make it easier for him to reach her and yet making very certain she did not rest any weight on his chest. Bracing one hand on the bed by his shoulder, she lifted up and made room for her hand to slip between their bodies. She wrapped her fingers around his jutting length and stroked him into full hardness. All the while he had his hands on her breasts, his finger plucking at her nipples his palms kneading the soft mounds.

“I want to put my mouth on you,” he said in a hot whisper.

She obliged him by rising up further onto her knees and releasing him in order to feed her breast to his lips. He sucked on her nipple eagerly, then bit at her with gentle loving bites until her nipple was a hard, aching point. She then fed him the opposite breast, which he gave equal treatment. She ran her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. She felt his hand skimming up her sides, then down again to grasp her hips.

“Come up here. I want your flavor on my tongue. I want your wetness all over my face.”

She looked down at him for a long moment, but her body was already eager with anticipation of feeling his mouth upon her.

“You’re not to lift up in any way,” she warned him.

“I won’t have to if you come up here.”

She laughed at his persistence. Then she did as he asked and brought herself up his body until she was straddling his head, her sex within easy reach of his mouth. She reached out and grabbed the headboard for balance as his tongue darted out and licked her. His hands came up to frame her hips, his hold on her guiding her to where he wanted her. She gasped as his tongue danced across the sensitive knot of nerves he found buried within folds of femininity. He lapped at her until she was moaning and her hips were shifting of their own volition. His tongue slid down and darted into the entrance of her body. Then it was back up to her clitoris and those endless, joyous circles of pleasure. He persisted until an orgasm whipped through her, both of her hands gripping the headboard now as she tried to keep her weight on her knees.

As soon as she came down from that peak, and before he could drive her up to another, she eased back down his body. She decided it was high time to return the favor and so moved down until she could pick him up in her hand and bring him to her lips.

Sin had nothing to hold on to, as she had moved all of her delicious parts out of his reach…provided he remained flat on his back. But he knew the moment he tried to sit up and reach for her was the moment she would put a stop to everything. He didn’t want that at all, so he bore the torture of her mouth on him by tangling his fists into the sheets. It was natural to want to thrust his hips upward, but even that action would cause him pain. He could do nothing to hurt himself or she would know it and she would stop loving him. He found the whole exercise of being still to be almost as erotic as if he were engaging his body fully. She could do anything she wanted to him and he would have no say in it whatsoever.

Her mouth closed around him and he closed his eyes. But only for a moment. The sight of her taking him in her mouth was too gorgeous to deny himself. Combining the sight of her with the glorious feel of her sucking and bathing him was more than could be borne. Sin groaned as her teeth skimmed against the skin of his cock. She playfully nipped at the head and he sucked in a breath. She was slowly driving him mad. She wasn’t in any hurry, her touch torturous and slow and very, very thorough. Her tongue was wicked as it laved and licked.

“Enough,” he croaked as he began to feel the beginning swirls of release coaxing at the edges of his sanity. “I want inside of you.”

She released him with a pop of sound and, continuing to stroke him with her hand in slow, saliva-wet pulls, she raised her eyes to his.

“If I wanted to, I could make you come just like this. There would be nothing you could do or say to stop me. That was the rules.”

“I don’t remember there being any rules,” he rasped.

“I’m in charge. You lay back and take. I give. Simple rules that you must obey.”

“But I want us both to have pleasure,” he said, his tone coaxing…yet there was a desperate tinge to his voice he knew because her stroking hand was making that impending release rush harder against his waning control.

“This does give me pleasure.”

“Please. I am begging you!” he cried, not caring that he begged no man for anything. He was not a man to beg. But for her he would. He would do anything for her.

This seemed to surprise her almost as much as saying it aloud had surprised him. Her touch on him slowed and she rose up onto her knees. She threw her leg over his thighs and then slid herself up so their bare sexes were in contact once more. Sin reached out and gripped her by her hips as she removed her hand from between their bodies and with a sinuous movement of her lower body she impaled herself on him.

Sin closed his eyes once more, overwhelmed with the sensation of her around him. He held her still, let himself revel in the sensation. Then he opened his eyes against and took in the sight of her. She was like a proud and perfect goddess. Powerful…confident in her ability to give him pleasure. To give them both pleasure. She wasn't afraid to be responsible for it. He would remember this for the future. He would let her take command so he could see this beautiful creature she became again and again. Oh, she was always beautiful and desirable, but like this she was erotic and exotic.

Even though he was connected to her, she suddenly felt too far away from him. He was just about to demand she give him her mouth when she lifted from him slowly, then sank back down on him. He swore at the violent pleasure it gave him and she laughed at him.

“That’s an odd reaction,” she noted.

“It is all I can think clear enough to say. You have my mind completely muddled. I’m completely under your spell.”

“Good. That is just how it should be.”

She lifted from him again and retook him into her body. It was frustratingly slow and he wanted to thrust up to meet her, but he knew he could not. He was helpless.

Ariana knew he was frustrated just about as equally as he was excited. He was a dominant man. He preferred to be in control of his passions and his fate and everything around him. But that was just too bad. She was in control of this moment. It was her responsibility to bring them both ultimate pleasure. She quickened her pace, using the powerful muscles of her thighs to raise and lower herself onto him, being careful not to rest any of her weight onto his chest. She did stroke him though. Over his strong belly and the curving muscles of his chest. She began to pick up a rhythm. Slow and steady, reveling in the feel of his hardness inside of her. She grew more aroused as she moved, heat slithering through her body in hard damp waves. His groans of pleasure stimulated her. She began to ride him in earnest. She gasped as her pleasure bloomed. Ariana gripped at him with both hands and body. She felt ultimate pleasure chasing her down, riding her just as hard as she was riding him. She barely felt the way his fingers dug into her hips, helping her ride him to a crest.